| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.40
Trade in God's Bits of Wood (Heinemann African Writers Series) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.40, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In 1947 the workers on the Dakar-Niger Railway came out on strike. Throughout this novel, written from the workers' perspective, the community social tensions emerge, and increase as the strike lengthens. The author's other novels include "Xala" and "Black Docker".
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic revolutionary novel set in the colonial '50s,
By A Customer
This review is from: God's Bits of Wood (Heinemann African Writers Series) (Paperback)
This is an absolutely exhilarating, heart-wrenching exploration of the people and events surrounding the '50s national railway strike of the 'Smoke of the Savanna' in colonial French west Africa. All the people come to life before you and the book transports the reader to the middle of the compounds, railway yards, riots and women's marches of the one year act of resistance. Paving the way to the successful nationalist movement for independence the strike momentum lives here as the stand-off between hunger and affronted colonial pride. Testing traditional family structures and the integrity of individuals this has real villains and heroes. A true epic novel with the detail to move tears. So, 'What washes the water clean?' ..............(now that would be telling!)
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful African story,
By Peter Jones (Springfield, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: God's Bits of Wood (Heinemann African Writers Series) (Paperback)
This book should be used in schools here to help the children who descended from Africans of all backgrounds to learn about the way of life and culture and traditions of Africa before the influence of foreign values and colonialism. The Usurper and Other Stories, A grain of Wheat, Disciples of Fortune, No Longer at Ease, are some of the other African titles I enjoyed.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews) 56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem of African Literature by the Father of African Film,
By Arthur Camara - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: God's Bits of Wood (Heinemann African Writers Series) (Paperback)
Sembene Ousmane's third novel, God's Bits of Wood, was originally written and published in French as Les Bouts de bois de Dieu. The novel is set in pre-independence Senegal and follows the struggles of the African trainworkers in three cities as they go on strike against their French employers in an effort for equal benefits and compensation. The chapters of the book shift between the cities of Bamako, Thies, and Dakar and track the actions and growth of the men and women whose lives are transformed by the strike. Rather than number the chapters, Ousmane has labeled them by the city in which they take place, and the character who is the focal point of that chapter. As the strike progresses, the French management decides to "starve out" the striking workers by cutting off local access to water and applying pressure on local merchants to prevent those shop owners from selling food on credit to the striking families. The men who once acted as providers for their family, now rely on their wives to scrape together enough food in order to feed the families. The new, more obvious reliance on women as providers begins to embolden the women. Since the women now suffer along with their striking husbands, the wives soon see themselves as active strikers as well. The strategy of the French managers, or toubabs as the African workers call them, of using lack of food and water to pressure the strikers back to work, instead crystallizes for workers and their families the gross inequities that exist between them and their French employers. The growing hardships faced by the families only strengthens their resolve, especially that of the women. In fact, some of the husbands that consider faltering are forced into resoluteness by their wives. It is the women, not the men, who defend themselves with violence and clash with the armed French forces. The women instinctively realize that women who are able to stand up to white men carrying guns are also able to assert themselves in their homes and villages, and make themselves a part of the decision making processes in their communities. The strike begins the awakening process, enabling the women to see themselves as active participants in their own lives and persons of influence in their society. This book is wonderful yet sadly under-appreciated. Ousmane's handling of issues such as the politics of language, indigenous resistence, the cultural costs of forced industrialization, and the changing role of women really has the power to change the way people think. And yet, maybe the book's reach and resonance are the reasons that God's Bits of Wood is not widely read and taught in schools. 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An epic, tense description of a struggle for recognition,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: God's Bits of Wood (Heinemann African Writers Series) (Paperback)
A book of protest, made all the more relevant by the fact that it concerns workers from a universal vocation - the railworkers' industry. Epic in scope, yet founded in community values and beliefs, Ousmane articulates the protest brilliantly. What is also special is his portrayal of women as a force for change - especially considering the chauvinistic politics of Africa today.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"God's Bits Of Wood" a Transcendent Novel of Excellence,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: God's Bits of Wood (Heinemann African Writers Series) (Paperback)
In Sembene Ousmane's "God's Bits Of Wood" there is a detectable apect of human rights that surpasses all distinction. He points out the dilemmas of a neo-colonial state without giving them the weight of the novel. This novel utilizes this historical event to show humans at their best. The book shows the power of humankind to become humane without compromise. He displays well his ideas on race, gender, and human rights but by the end of the book we are led to an even more enlightening state of thinking and existing, which is to live without hate, even those who hate you, "[...] you must not let hatred enter your heart" (191). This is truly a great message to give while expressing such a triumphant story and event.The novel also seems to contain a little intertextuality with the poetry of Muyaka (a 19th century poet who composed orally in his native tongue of Kiswahili and never saw the effects of colonialism). This relationship is most notable after reading his famous poem "Seeing Is Believing" (Ua La Manga) -I've seen a hyena and a goat keeping good company. -Also a hen and a hawk bringing up their chicks together -And a blind person showing peopl the way; -This was not told to me, I obvserved it with my own eyes. I see the relationship throughout this poem but specifically with the third line, since one of the leaders of "Gods Bits Of Wood" is a blind woman named Maimouna, "All of the women seemed to want to walk behind Maimouna [...]" (201). Ousmane also confronts the question of African Literature, and whether it can exist any mediums other than indigenous African languages. Throughout the book, which was originally, written in French, Ousmane will say such and such said in French when the novel clearly is already in French, "and then, holding out his hand to the two whit men, he added in French, 'Good morning, gentlemen" (125). By doing this throughout the novel Ousmane implies that the original is truly not in French but only exists that way (and in its English form) to cater to us, almost in an act of charity. The lines from one of the main characters embody this greatly, "That is all I had to say, and I have said it in French so that he would understnad me, although I think this meeting should have been conducted in Oulof, since that is our language" (177). He has written his novel in French for the same reason that Bakayoko speaks in it, because unlike Bakayoko,(and Ousmane) the French despite being surrounded by Oulof never picked it up. All in all Ousmane accomplishes creating literature that is worthy of the world reading it. Like so much of African Literature it is masterful, new and refreshing, but sad because it is not enjoyed as widely as it should be. |
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
